1-3 Finish for bLU cRU 300 Racing at The Bend

bLU cRU 300 Racing’s Tom Bramich snared his first round victory for the year at round three of the Australian Supersport 300 Championship at the all new Tailem Bend circuit last weekend, with team mate Hunter Ford sharing the podium with him in third place.

After starting from pole position, the 21-year-old Victorian stormed to a 2-1-1 result which saw him claim the top step of the podium at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia. The round victory also broke a drought for Bramich who last stood on top of the podium at Winton 12 months ago.

Bramich was in control of the opening race, but he missed a gear going into turn thirteen, which saw him slip back to third behind Olly Simpson. However, Bramich managed to get by Simpson and then flashed across the finish line just .311 seconds behind teammate, Hunter Ford in a 1-2 in the first race.

Race two saw Bramich and Ford getting away from the pack, allowing the pair to engage in their own little private battle at the head of the field. On the seventh and final lap, Ford snuck by Bramich into turn fifteen but Bramich fought back and drove up the inside of Ford in the second last corner and held on to a .291 victory margin.

The third and final race was an absolute bell ringer which saw Bramich beating YRD support R3 rider Harry Khouri by .128 seconds. Seven riders blitzed across the finish line and were separated by .925 seconds, which included five Yamaha YZF-R3 mounted riders.

“I’m really happy! I can’t thank my team enough and the JLT Sport Yamaha YZF-R3 was faultless all weekend, so it couldn’t have been a better weekend,” Bramich said. “Every race was a real battle and the last one was crazy just how close we all were. You could have ridden well and finished seventh or you could have ridden just the same and won. It was so close but a lot fun and I’m glad I stayed calm and was able to get the job done,” he ended.

Joining Bramich on the podium in third was Hunter Ford, making it a bLU cRU 300 Racing Team 1-3 result for the round. Ford described his weekend as an up-and-down with two excellent races only to be soured with a disappointing result in the final leg of the day.

After scoring a win in race one and a second in race two, his weekend was on track and headed for a possibly round victory but while in fourth, a fellow rider fell from his machine and took Ford with him in the process.

“I gained some points back, only to lose them when I went down in race three when another riders bike took me out,” said Ford. “Thems the breaks. You win some, you lose some!

“We’ll just bounce back at Darwin in a few months’ time and hopefully claw back some points in the championship,” finished Ford.

The third of the bLU cRU 300 Racing team riders, Zac Levy strung together a 3-8-5 result, which saw him scoring a total of 47-points of for the round. This was good enough for fifth position overall.

It was bit of a tough start to the weekend for Levy, as he struggled throughout all the practice sessions. However, come qualifying, Levy managed to pull out a decent qualifying time in the first session, which saw him qualifying second to Bramich.

Race one wasn’t too bad according to Levy, who made finished behind his two teammates. The second seven lap race however was a real tough one for the Queenslander. Levy didn’t factor in the tail wind, which resulted him in running out of gearing going down the straight.

For race three, Levy was in a good frame of mind. He started really well and led on lap one and six. On the last lap, Levy made an attack into turn seventeen to take the lead. However, he missed the corner and ran wide and didn’t get the run out of the corner. That allowed Bramich to sweep around the outside of Levy and forcing him to drop back to fifth as the tight knit field charged over the finish line.

Despite the challenging weekend, Levy still holds down second place in the championship fight.

“We are a few more points behind, but the championship lead has changed. There are a lot of races left and anything can happen. We’ll just keep plugging away and turn our focus towards Darwin,” concluded Levy.

Heading into round four, the Australian Supersport 300 Championship sees Bramich leading on 183-points to Levy’s 164. Eight points down on levy is Khouri, while Ford jumps from sixth to fifth in the championship standings with 135-points to his name.

The championship now heads to the top end, to Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway on June 28 through to 1st July.